1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a processing apparatus comprising a touch panel that has a display panel displaying an operable screen image and an operation panel accepting an operation.
2. Description of Related Art
A recent image processing device, such as a photocopier and a facsimile machine authenticates a user before use. The image processing device permits only a user who is registered in the image processing device to use the image processing device, and prohibits a user who is not registered to use the image processing device to improve its security. Furthermore, the image processing device stores, in a storage device, a date and time of operation and an operation content, etc. of a user who is identified by the authentication and, thus, administrates its usage (e.g., management of the user, and management of using condition).
The image processing device is known to utilize, for authentication, user information such as combined ID and password, and fingerprint. In the image processing device, information for user authentication is registered in advance. The image processing device authenticates an user based on whether inputted information by the user is identical to the registered information or not.
Meanwhile, a tablet input device is disclosed that utilizes a stylus pen including a sensor for fingerprint recognition (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-18426). This stylus pen stores an individual fingerprint data in advance. If a fingerprint information read by the sensor is identical to the stored individual fingerprint data, the stylus pen can start to operate the tablet input device. If not, then an alert is performed.
In addition, a display device is disclosed that displays an image on a display surface and reads two-dimensional information from the same surface (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-179977). It is proposed to utilize such a display device for fingerprint authentication (EKISHYOUPANERU DE SYASHIN MO MEISHI MO YOMIKOMERU Toshiba ‘Input Display’ (A Picture and a Business Card can be Read with an LCD Panel—Toshiba Corporation ‘Input Display’) [Online], [Searched on Nov. 7, 2007], Internet<URL: http://www.wince.ne.jp/snap/ceSnapView.asp?PID=1453>).